WACK Brings All the Rage with their Punk Rock Sound to Calgary
Calgary punk rockers, WACK, are playing this year’s Sled Island’s All-Ager Rager on April 6th, 2024: an event that is new to the festival and the city. While Sled Island is known for their all-ages programming, with the loss of many venues there is a gap in youth programming at the festival that needs to be bridged, with the All Ager Rager being the perfect first-step solution for youth to find their new up-and-coming favourite band, while making new friends with other music lovers in the process.
Leading the pack in the youth local music community is WACK. Fresh off the release of their new debut EP Lateral Adderall, we caught up with the group to learn more about their high-energy sound that is making waves in the music scene and what we can look forward to when we catch the band live.
REVERIE: Where did the band begin and why the name ‘WACK’?
Nick: We used to be called Downpour, which was my band with a different guitarist and bassist. Quin joined as the vocalist after six months or so.
Quin: To be honest, I didn't like the name "Downpour" at all, but I loved the band. It was very different sound-wise from WACK.
Finn: Downpour is a good band name if you like bad band names.
Nick: So… it became clear none of us liked the name. We brainstormed a new one for about a month—it was gruelling. We had about a hundred names.
Quin: I have this weird habit of describing things as wack as both a good thing and a bad thing. I said one of the names was wack, and nobody could tell if I meant it as a good thing. Nick said, "What about wack?" and that was that
REVERIE: What inspires WACK's sound?
Nick: We always wanted our shows to get people moving. That doesn't need to mean moshing, though; grooving to the music is enough for a lot of people. Punk tends to do that, and it is a genre we all love. We've looked to bands like Green Day, Pup, The Chats, and the Offspring for inspiration. However, at least for me personally, it's also been about creating something you can just groove to if the mosh pit isn't quite your thing.
Quin: We have had a very natural progression. We drift towards music that excites us, which ideally excites people watching. I like to keep things at least a little weird, so I would say that bands like Modest Mouse, The Pixies, and even Viagra Boys have influenced that.
REVERIE: Your most recent EP is called "Lateral Adderall." What themes or inspirations influenced the release?
Quin: I got diagnosed with ADHD last year, so they put me on Vyvanse, which my doctor described as "an offshoot of Adderall"; hence the name Lateral Adderall. In that vein, the art on the EP is a possum walking away from a big mess of paint behind him, which is sorta representative of how I feel going on meds; it's like… so I didn't have to be making a big fucking mess this whole time?
“Sin Paraiso” is Spanish for "without paradise" and is my general critique of life in Western society - we are brought up with this idea that people are equal. Still, anybody with an iota of critical thinking knows that isn't true. I was raised pretty poor, and seeing my mom work so hard to keep us happy and fed has left me with a very bitter taste of our whole system. But at the same time, I'm a mostly masculine white guy in a straight-passing relationship - and the song is about that, too… who am I to complain? “Blue Lagoon” is about leaving my hometown and how people are what makes a place. The "slayer" mentioned in the song is the concept that everybody leaves eventually, and places cease to exist in that way. “Dr. Salt” is kind of my way of bridging both concepts together.
“Go Skate Day” is not nearly so deep - it's about my experience moving home for a month during covid… all I did was skateboard with no concern for anything else.
REVERIE: With being from Calgary, in what ways has the scene out here influenced WACK?
Finn: It's been instrumental for us to have such a supportive community that gives us the practice to perform how we do now. To have a group of people hyped up on your music is a crazy feeling, and we are constantly chasing that! When you are on stage with your best friends, and people throw themselves into each other because they are that excited… it becomes pretty easy to throw yourself off an amp or jump into the crowd.
Quin: We are a live band at the end of the day, and I hope we take a little bit from every show we watch nowadays. There is bad stuff (us), decent stuff, and incredible stuff coming out of Calgary right now, and it all has something to teach ya.
REVERIE: What else can we expect from WACK in the upcoming year?
Finn: We hope to follow up our EP with another piece of music later this year. Now that we've found our footing, we're hellbent on putting more out there! We've been working hard on various mixed media and projects to put out there along with our music.
Nick: We recently recorded a video for “Go Skate Day”, which will be sick. Oh, and Big Ol House is getting released right away.
Quin: We hope to do a lot of touring, too, so stay tuned! Our next show is the April 6th’s Sled Island All-Ager Rager, free… so you have no excuse not to see us.
REVERIE: On the topic of playing live, if you could play with any band- which would they be?
Finn: We'd all say PUP! I'd love to share a stage with Jeff Rosenstock, Mike Krol, or FIDLAR.
Quin: PUP, for sure. Until recently, I would have said Pkew Pkew Pkew, too, but we got to play with them at Big Winter Classic!
Catch WACK and more at Sled Island’s All-Ager Rager on April 6, 2024 From 2–11pm, Sled will feature 15+ bands across three venues, including Pin-Bar, Sloth Records and Loophole Coffee Bar. RSVP FOR FREE!